They are our closest neighbour and it is very important for me to have them involved in the process, said Rajapakse.
Ending war with Tamil rebels would be top prriority if elected: Lanka PM
As UNHRC is set to take up the US-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka, a 41-year-old man in Tamil Nadu on Monday attempted self immolation and various pro-Tamil groups staged protests demanding action against Sri Lanka for alleged war crimes.
The Sri Lankan government on Wednesday held its first ever Cabinet meeting in the Tamil heartland of Kilinochchi, the erstwhile administrative capital of the vanquished Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam."The weekly Cabinet meeting commenced in Kilinochchi at 10 am today under the patronage of President Mahinda Rajapakse," a statement said.The meeting was conducted at the administrative building of the defence forces headquarters near the Iranamadu tank.
Tamil-actor-turned political leader Vijaykanth told rediff.com that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's announcement of demanding Indian citizenship for Sri Lankan Tamil refugees is helping the dream of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse.
Foreign coaches in Sri Lanka are all set to gain from new tax laws outlined in the government budget of 2012, officials said on Thursday.
In a major success, the Sri Lankan troops today seized the strategic Elephant Pass, the gateway to the Jaffna peninsula, dislodging the Tamil Tigers from their key bastion a week after capturing the rebels' de facto capital Kilinochcci in the island nation's embattled north.
The Sri Lankan government has slapped a fresh case on detained former army chief Sarath Fonseka for allegedly employing military deserters during the presidential campaign earlier this year, the poll which he contested unsuccessfully against President Mahinda Rajapakse. The attorney general's department filed a fresh case against Fonseka, who is now an opposition lawmaker. He is accused of employing 10 army deserters in the run-up to the January presidential poll.
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, who visited Sri Lanka last week and met President Mahinda Rajapakse and senior Sri Lankan officials, has said that India had been reassured over the Lankan government's efforts to return internally-displaced persons to their homes and also hopeful over a future political process to alleviate the lot of the Tamil-speaking community and other minorities.
Sri Lanka's Minister for Economic Development, Basil Rajapakse's visit to New Delhi on Thursday for what is described as "regular high level consultations" comes shortly before a scheduled meeting of a Parliamentary Select Committee for Constitutional Amendments on July 9.
A leading Washington, DC-based think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, notwithstanding the arrest of retired Sri Lankan Army General Sarath Fonseka who challenged President Mahinda Rajapakse at the recent elections, and the country's poor record on human rights and its treatment of several thousand internally displaced persons, has said that the United States cannot afford to disengage with the island nation.
A behind-the-scenes account of how the three-decade old conflict came to an end in the island nation.
As India's fears mounted for Tamil civilians trapped in the war zone in Sri Lanka, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday night sought an assurance from President Mahinda Rajapakse that the innocents are safe and humanitarian situation will be taken into consideration.
Sri Lanka's new Foreign Minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris, who visited Washington, DC last month, feels the tensions that existed in the United States and Sri Lanka during the height of the conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, when Colombo refused to acquiesce to a ceasefire, have been repaired.
Ajantha Mendis bettered his own T20 record by taking six wickets for just eight runs as Sri Lanka walloped minnows Zimbabwe by 82 runs in the opening match of the World Twenty20 tournament in Hambantota on Tuesday.
The fallout of the spat between two headstrong and powerful personalities like Mahinda Rajapakse and Sarath Fonseka does not augur well for this small and beautiful Island nation struggling to leave the ravages of war behind, writes Nitin Gokhale.
Set to form the next government in Tamil Nadu, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo J Jayalalithaa on Friday said the top agenda for her government would be to restore "law and order" which had "totally deteriorated".
Lankan MP M K Sivajilingam of Pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance, said the Sri Lankan government's move to devolve powers to region is a 'joke played by them (Lankan government) on minority Tamils' who have 'not been able to lead a peaceful life in their own nation'.
Sri Lanka's president Mahinda Rajapakse on Wednesday ordered a ban on a World Cup song that carries a latent threat to defending champions Australia and New Zealand.
"If Dr Singh makes it to Colombo, which would be the first in several years, it would undoubtedly be a big blow to LTTE, which is why pro-LTTE parties in Tamil Nadu are objecting it."
'The struggle for Tamil equality and justice for Tamils did not start with the LTTE and will not end with LTTE. I am not saying that the LTTE has come to an end.'
Accusing Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse of abdicating his responsibility to save civilians in the restive north, Tamil Americans have asked United States President Barack Obama to send his forces to the strife-torn nation to save the lives of innocent people. "This is pure and simple genocide. We are asking the Obama administration to intervene to save the Tamils of Sri Lanka by sending its army there," they said.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam today virtually conceded that its de-facto capital Kilinochchi has fallen to the Sri Lankan Army, saying that the security forces have entered a "virtual ghost town" as the whole infrastructure of Tamil Tigers have shifted to the northeast.
Japan's special envoy Yasushi Akashi is likely to meet LTTE leaders to kickstart the stalled peace process.
"The ceasefire should continue and both sides should come to the negotiating table to resolve the problem," the minister said.
Ruling out talks with the LTTE till the outlawed outfit agreed to disarm, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has accused Britain of double standards in dealing with the global menace of terrorism.
The summit will be held in the picturesque city of Kandy, with Colombo planning 'foolproof' security arrangements to ward off any attack from the LTTE as it battles the rebel forces in the north.
Emphasising India's committed support to the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka, President A P J Abdul Kalam Wednesday night said New Delhi favoured a peaceful and negotiated settlement of the ethnic issue of the island nation.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met visiting President Mahinda Rajapakse.
Vaiko also strongly objected Narayanan's meeting with Douglas Devananada in New Delhi. Devananda is a Sri Lankan Tamil politician who is part of the ruling alliance and a supporter of Rajapakse.
Dr Singh said the centre would reiterate to the Lankan government that there is no military solution to the problem in that country.
Veteran opener Sanath Jayasuriya on Friday denied having sought Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's intervention for his inclusion in the ODI team to the West Indies.
The first batch of 2,400 Tamils lodged in camps for internally displaced persons in Sri Lanka were sent back home on Thursday as assured by the Sri Lankan government, said Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam Member of Parliament T R Baalu, who led a team of Tamil Nadu MPs to the island nation.
The Indo-Sri Lanka joint statement issued at the conclusion of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's visit to India is "biased against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam," Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Vaiko said in Chennai Sun.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse arrived in New Delhi Tuesday on a four-day visit during which he is expected to seek greater involvement of India in his country's fragile peace process.
The United States has said it is working with India to find a political solution in Sri Lanka now that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam "is now flat on its back having lost most of its leaders," but has no intention of putting pressure on New Delhi to change its policy toward Sri Lanka, which has been perceived by some Tamils to be favoring the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse.
With his forces encircling the fighters of the Liberation Tigers of Tami Eelam in a tiny strip of land in the northern region of the country, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse held out an olive branch to the Tamil Tigers on Monday, asking them to lay down arms after which they will be 'readily accepted and treated humanely'. The President said all facilities would be made available for the LTTE cadres who lay down their arms and surrender.
The LTTE on Monday bombed the Katunayake military airbase, about 35 kilometres north of Colombo, using two light aircraft, killing three airmen and injuring 16.
'General Musharraf came to power after an Army coup. After sometime India recognized him. Like that, in future India will have to recognize us.'
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